I'm prettying much echoing what's already been said... But I think the ONLY time opening a second shop might be appropriate would be if you plan on selling vintage wares as well - just so people don't confuse the handmade by the vintage.

I myself sell all things that have a feminine vibe - I call them feminine findings. Vintage and handmade..

Ok, I have so many ideas of things I want to do, so I made a list then separated the by category (they are all bath and beauty items) so it's like Bath, Makeup, Hair. I plan to launch the Bath line this winter, then bring the makeup in the spring and the hair in the summer. What I'm wondering is if I should make three different etsy accounts, or should I make one big shop with different categories? I'll also eliminate things that don't sell well along the way so my list wont be quite as big as it is now. Thanks for any advice!

Ok, I have so many ideas of things I want to do, so I made a list then separated the by category (they are all bath and beauty items) so it's like Bath, Makeup, Hair. I plan to launch the Bath line this winter, then bring the makeup in the spring and the hair in the summer. What I'm wondering is if I should make three different etsy accounts, or should I make one big shop with different categories? I'll also eliminate things that don't sell well along the way so my list wont be quite as big as it is now. Thanks for any advice!

Truthfully, all these things are beauty products and can totally all be sold together. You don't need to put yourself through the hassle of trying to seperate them and manage a bunch of different shops.

Okay, so I've slowly been accumulating stuff to create an etsy shop, but I have noticed that most shops are focused around a particular trade (jewelry, paper crafts, sewing, etc) and I have multiple areas of interest. Is it somehow bad for sales or something to have one shop with lots of types of things? I've seen that some people have multiple shops to accommodate their multiple interests, but I really don't have enough stuff to merit like four different shops.

So what do you think? Is it harder to do lots of stuff with one etsy shop?

I have noticed that too olive_juice. I do more than just one thing & I also want to sell some supplies too, but I only have a few items. Ithink to open multiple shops, you would need more than just a few things for each shop. If you don't have a lot of things, then I don't see why you can't just create a new section in your shop. I was thinking of re-designing my shop sections: Sewing Section, Herbal Section, Supply Section, Wood Section, etc. - making the sections very general, cause I'll only have a few items in some sections, not a whole bunch of stuff.

I would definately have a variety of items in my store. That, in fact, is what is saving my store for the time being. My sewing machine broke last night and I won't be able to make any more wallets or pillows (or anything sewn for that matter) until at least Saturday. If I get a sale, that's another thing-I would probably buy a new machine if that happened. This way I can focus on some of the other things I make--like book crafts and jewelry.

Having items from different categories also gives you different positions in the area of competition for each category. The jewelry category tends to, as some say, be oversaturated so it helps to sell some other types of crafted things in order to get your shop noticed. You might do better in categories where the competition is different.

When you start out selling for the first time, it'd be good to branch out and spread your crafting wings. (I just started with a few different things i enjoy doing, and i'm trying those out (no success so far D:)). but you have to find out what "your etsy consumer" wants to buy, which is totally a trial and error kind of thing. i believe there was a storque article about finding your etsy niche.

I'm glad to find this thread as I have had the same questions. I have many different things on my shop but I think it's cohesive. I suppose by shop would be considered an eco-shop or a green shop. I used a lot of recycled, reused materials, etc. My questions is this - Do potential customers have more faith in the quality of your products if they perceive you to be an expert at something (versus someone who works in several different mediums) or doesn't it matter?